Student: Correcting the results of my poor judgments is ridiculously difficult.
Master: Much easier to use good judgment in the first place.
Blog
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Of Grasshoppers
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Not a good day…technically
The day thus far? Our Internet connection is down and my laptop won’t boot. I think I should go troubleshoot other people’s hardware.
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From the mouths of babes
Evan, 4.5 years old: "Dad. Can we buy a gold fish?"
Dad, thinking a gold fish is not difficult to care for: "I suppose. What made you want a gold fish?"
Evan: "I want to eat it."
Dad, realizing this isn’t about watching the wrong tv shows: "Oh! You want gold fish snacks." -
Magento References
Relevant to my life right now:
- Class Mage_Eav_Model_Entity_Setup
- Installing Custom Attributes with Your Module
- Magento Architecture
- ERDs and other diagrams
- database diagrams
- Question about adding selects, radio buttons, and checkboxes to registration form.
- Designing for Magento
- Themeing Magento
- Categories, Products, and Attributes – part 1
- Categories and Attributes in Magento: Part 2
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How long have I been on the Internet?
I’ve been on the Internet so long that I just went to a website that I had never heard of and tried to create an account only to discover I already had an account. So either my memory is worse than I thought or I’ve consumed so much of The Internet that I can now see the whole thing again and enjoy as if I was seeing it for the first time!
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Magento Actions
The Magento E-commerce system is an exciting open source alternative to systems like OS Commerce. The learning curve isn’t really a curve at all. The learning curve is more like a sheer, glassy. polished mountain face shooting straight up into the heavens. However, plenty of documentation exists, Google overfloweth with links to blog post, and IRC support is available on Freenode #magento (although I believe most questions go to /dev/null so expect to feel a little like you are talking to yourself but like your $200/hr psychologist will explain, sometimes that’s all we need).
As I work through understanding how Magento handles layouts, I struggle to find a simple list of actions and perhaps I’m trying to hard. So far the is this:
- addJs
- addCss
- addLink
- addItemRender
- unsetChild
- setHeaderTitle
- setTemplate
Ah! I found a reference! See page 7 of Magento Layout Files Reference (see also same document, different format).
Update: The Magento wiki has this defined under Designing for Magento.
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From the mouths of babes
Amy, 7.5 years: "Evan’s got a bloody nose!"
Evan, 4.5 years: "Dad! My nose is bleeding!"
Evan: "Oh, it’s just a boogie." -
Annnd they’re off! (to a bad start)
Sarah has a portfolio review today near Nashville for a summer art program where she would get to live at a university and work with some very talented people. This is very important which is why I cringed when I saw Cathy’s tweet:
Why is the teenager dressed like a clown for her portfolio review? [Source, Twitter, @cathymccaughan]
After a grueling day yesterday, I failed to do the standard road checks last night. This morning as the girls were walking out the door, I found a nail in a tire. The same nail I found in the same tire weeks ago and forgot about. No problem! I could plug it in minutes only I was out of plugs. 30 minutes later, I had purchased plugs, discovered McDonald’s at Northshore and Pellissippi still has free air, fixed the tire myself, signed a conversation with an old friend, and had two very upset women driving to Nashville. Good luck Sarah!
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Jeep Unburied
5 children, 5 schools, 1 car. Working from home certainly lends to making our lives function well. This week I find our schedule so unmanageable that we must have a second vehicle working. Knoxville public transportation fails to deliver a reasonable solution. This means getting the Jeep or the motorcycle roadworthy. Glancing down the driveway I’m embarrassed to see the Jeep with boards and pvc pipe piled on the roof, kites and other toys stacked on the hood, rusting bicycles lean against the bumper, a bent ladder waiting to be recycled rests against its side, and the whole mess is half covered in a blue tarp. What an eye sore!
Last night I unburied the Jeep. The odds that this vehicle will run again without major repairs is slim. But I shall try. In my mind, I have committed to converting this Jeep to an EV if I cannot get it running. I find thinking about Sarah driving to school for her senior year in a vehicle that doesn’t require gas someone amusing. For now, the Jeep is uncovered and the driveway looks a little better. Hopefully, I can find a key to the Jeep today and tomorrow I can try to jump start it.
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Today’s Magento Ecommerce Quotes
Read here:
I’ve been wrestling with Magento for the last month or so and I’m still trying to figure it out.
The general architecture is so mind-numbingly complex, that even if I completely understood it, I’d need to write a book to cover it.
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Today’s Forecast: Brain Cloud
Stress is so high it feels like someone is inflating a balloon in my head. I yawned today and saw shooting stars in my peripheral vision which was really cool. I can never get that on demand but its like having a little light show for 12 seconds or so whether the eyes are opened or closed.
Update: Looks like Stress could cause cancer.
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From the mouths of babes
Evan, 4.5: "I want a baloney sandwich with no crust and cut in the shape of a triangle."